For "Fat" Ladies

  • Thread starter Thread starter MLBW
  • Start date Start date
M

MLBW

Guest
Looking to network with any ladies who might be in a similar situation out there.

Got pregnant, gained a lot of weight, had a baby. Just getting back to fitness and actively trying to shed sizes.

(not too interested in weight actually, but if you must know, my "fighting weight" is about 61 kilos-135 pounds, I was about 68 kilos--150 pounds when I found out I was pregnant, when I gave birth to my son I weighed about 104 kilos-230 pounds and right now I weigh about 86 kilos-190 pounds which means I have about 25 kilos-55 pounds to lose. Whew! That was a mouthful!)

A lot of the women I have talked to in the city are pining away over the 2-5 kilos/5-10 pounds of post-baby weight they still "need to lose." While, I feel for these women, if I had only that much weight or only like 1 or 2 sizes to lose, I would just shut my mouth and buy a new pair of pants, if you know what I mean. I used to be kinda whiny about that insignificant weight gain I could chalk up to water bloat or a large holiday meal--and it drove my other friends crazy. You know what they say about payback, though, right? :cool:

So, anyway, we live nowhere near a proper gym and a 2-hour journey to and from the gym (not to mention the time spent there) is out of the question. I have a herniated disc in my lower back so I absolutely cannot run. Right now I'm in the States so I have been going to a gym and doing ellipticals, swimming and some free weight training.

I'd just like to hear from women who have serious weight to lose or have lost serious weight in Hong Kong. How did you do it? How long did it take? Or if you're still in the process, any support or advice or just rant you can offer would be so welcomed!
 
i have a similar amount of weight to lose as you - its a culmination from 2 pregnancies as I never lost all the weight 1st time around either.

I am just getting serious about the weight loss now. I love swimming but its quite cool in HK now so I am doing a couple of one-on-one pilates sessions a week as well as some DVDs of cardio workouts. the DVDs are great. no excuses as I can do it while the baby sleeps and my toddler is at pre-school. and if i miss that timeslot I can do it while both boys have their midday sleep. so far so good (other than a complete pig out with husband on saturday night at a great steak restaurant - oops!)

Will let you know how i get on

:gl:
 
I completely understand how you feel. I have constantly struggled with my weight. When I finally got to my target weight, I got pregnant! and now have to start over again. I know that I cycled with weight gain mainly b/c I am a binge eater. I gain lots of weight by eating as much of what I liked to the point of being overfull with the intentions of starting my diet the next day.....that went on for over a year. Because I have poor eating habit, I gained weight during the pregnancy not knowing or wanting to harm my child (plus it was a good excuse to eat whatever I wanted). But it does take a lot of time, patience and displine to lose weight. Twice I have lost over 30 pounds and both times it took a while before the weight started coming off. I also platued multiple times which was frustrating. What really helped me was hiring a personal trainer twice a week for about two months. If you are in the states, you could probably find a gym that will watch your children while you do it. It can be expensive but your health and self image is worth it :) (that's what I am telling myself b/c I may hire a trainer again when I go back to the states). Also, they will know what exercises will be good to strengthen your back. The last time I lost 30 pounds, it took about 3 months. I also cut back dramatically what I ate. Another good program is Weight Watchers, it really helped me get a good idea of the amount of calories I consumed; they have online programs. After I got used to using the point system, it was easier for me to estimate what was good and what was bad to eat. You could also set weekly goals and reward yourself when you reach them with little gifts. One time I went out and bought little things that I really wanted and wraped them up. Every week, when I acheived my goal, I would give myself one. Anyway, I hope that helps. I completely understand how you feel. The important thing is not to get frustrated and know that as long as you stick to it, the weight will eventually come off.
 
Hi Aussie Mum: I don't know how I could even find a pilates instructor where we live. How is pilates on your back? I seriously have to be super gentle with my back or I throw it out and can't walk. My son also doesn't take long enough naps for me to squeeze in any exercise time during the day. If he manages to stay down for 45 minutes it's pretty much a miracle and if we get one of those naps in a day then we are fortunate. I do have some good videos I can do but I can't do them with a baby underfoot (in a tiny apartment where there is barely enough room to do a jumping jack!) Someone suggested sticking him in a play pen--but we don't have one of those because we literally have nowhere to put it. My son is walking now and every time I've tried to do the videos (without having someone to watch him for me) I almost end up kicking him because he is right under me!

Megan: I am in the States temporarily but will be in HK in 2 weeks. We absolutely cannot afford to hire a personal trainer--I mean, really, really, really--not in the budget in any way. I go to the gym here but the child watch thing isn't an issue as I am staying with my mom and sister and they can watch my son for the time-being. I've been doing quite well here as far as fitness goes and eating healthy--but now I'm preparing for the "HK experience" again. Also, I'm not so much concerned with the actual amount that I weigh--I only care to shed fat and get down to a smaller size. In fact, I just decided to stop weighing myself altogether because it's just arbitrary--when I was 150 pounds I was probably 25-30% fat whereas now I'm probably down to 18-20% fat--so even though I weigh more I'm probably a bit healthier. Does that make sense.

I've heard about the Weight Watchers thing. Don't you have to buy their food in the store in order to do it? Is that how it works?
 
Oh no, you don't buy any food if you don't want to. What weight watchers does is breaks down the food into points and you are allotted a certain amount of points a day. It's a little hard at first b/c you have to constantly look up the food in a book but once you get the hang of it, it gets really easy. After a while, you won't even need to do the points b/c you will naturally begin to figure out if the food is good/bad. The book has almost every single food and food brand (mostly American) that you can think of. Also, what I started doing for exercise here was walking with my daughter (in the stroller) for one to two hours a day. It not only got her to sleep, but it also helped me get some exercise. Also, in Weight Watchers, it includes exercise so when you exercise more, you can have more points a day. Anyway, good luck.
 
I have to say about WW. I ahve a friend that was 350#, she's lost a ton of weight on their points system. (I think she is down to about 200# and still counting) you don't have to join... read online and it's all broken down, but if you do join, there's a great online support network, and lots of tips and tricks.

for basic layout of the plan look here:
http://www.sublogic.com/points/
 
MLBW- one of my DVDs is a series of 10min workouts. some days I just aim to do 10mins...if I get an extra 10mins done as well then that is a bonus. I have been told I am better to do 10min 6 days a week than 60min once a week!
I have always found that when you are not quite ready to tackle the weight you can come up with a million reasons why you can't do exercise or eat well. As soon as you are mentally ready to really give it a go you find a way.
I'm almost there but not quite!
am thinking maybe WW is a good idea... I'll look into it
 
I started WW last week, I'm doing the nursing mum program, you get more points! I'm struggling to fill the points and yet I've lost 2kg in 1 week. WAY more than I wanted to lose, I was thinking about 500gr a week would be fine. Online is easy and you don't have to buy any special food.

I've got about 15kg to lose; 7kg of it baby fat and the rest a mix of yum cha weight and weight gain from some meds I was taking.

Walking with the baby is a cheap and easy workout. Aussie mum, 10mins a day is all I do. Don't have much free time to spend doing long workouts, KWIM?
 
Buy a book called The PHA workout by Matt Roberts and follow it. You can do it at home as it requirs no equipment what so ever. If you won't lose weight after that I think THAT would be a miracle.
I used it before I was pregant and when I WAS fit. Most of the people who into exercise and fitness use it. It's the toughest exercise, get to the point, won't take long and they have the steps for begginners, interrmediate and advance.
No more excuse and you will be surprised of how tough it it, how tired you are from those exercise and how simple they looks.
Go and buy it.
 
aussie mum said:
MLBW- one of my DVDs is a series of 10min workouts. some days I just aim to do 10mins...if I get an extra 10mins done as well then that is a bonus. I have been told I am better to do 10min 6 days a week than 60min once a week!
I have always found that when you are not quite ready to tackle the weight you can come up with a million reasons why you can't do exercise or eat well. As soon as you are mentally ready to really give it a go you find a way.
I'm almost there but not quite!
am thinking maybe WW is a good idea... I'll look into it
Click to expand...

I don't think I am making excuses as I have already lost about 15-20 pounds in 3 months because I do eat healthy (and not much in a day, actually--probably 2 small meals--don't drink soda and never have and drink water and green tea) and I do exercise 5 times a week for at least an hour each time--sometimes twice a day--always at least 30 minutes of interval cardio!

It's just that I'm not a native HK person and I find the setup in HK is not condusive to what I have been doing here--as we don't have a car so getting to the gym takes an hour+ on the bus--and all that jazz. So I was looking for more tips specific to HK. I am so not looking forward to coming back to HK and just not having much available in that department.

I hope you can meet your goals and am glad it seems like you've found stuff in HK that personally works for you.
 
Okay, for the record, I just want the ladies on here to know I'm not making excuses--my track record shows that I have been consistently "keeping at it" and losing weight. I'm just trying to gear up to do the same thing in HK--which is a totally different ballgame.

I know for sure that a 10-minute exercise isn't going to get me where I want to go. I have been walking in HK--I walk A LOT--even to go to the grocery store where I live is a 40-minute round-trip journey and I push my son in the stroller and carry all the heavy sacks of groceries back (then haul them up 3 flights of stairs as well as my 25-pound son) and I have to do that at least 2 or 3 times a week because we don't have much room to store food in our house.

I also walk to the train station which is about a 30-minute one-way walk--I mean, I think I've put probably 100+ miles on the stroller since my son was born--so much so that I have to replace it now because we have literally worn it out!

So, I am motivated, I have been doing good--it's not for a lack of trying. I don't sit around and eat bon bons all day (or any junk food or soda). I am the sole person running the house so I have a lot of work to do each day and it's physical.

Thank you for your tips. I will look into some of them. Ugh...HK, here I come. *Sigh*
 
izzy said:
Koan, is there a weight watchers in Hong Kong? Could you please send me the info.
Click to expand...


I actually joined WW Australia. I used my sister's address to sign up. I had a look at the HK version but I don't eat much Chinese food (no more yum cha :redface:) and figured the Aus version would suit my diet better.
 
I'm kind of in the same boat as MLBW and megan2008. My family has a history of struggling with weight, from both mother's and father's sides. My father even had to do Atkins about 8 eight years ago to get to a healthy weight, and he's still struggling with it. Five years ago I weighed 230 pounds.

Since then, I have become very active, walking everywhere, and until I moved from the US to HK, I did triathlons, even finishing an Ironman in 2007 (still weighing 180 pounds mind you!). What I found out was that 1) the food here was so covered in sauce that I didn't notice the extra sugar. And 2) I couldn't exercise the way I wanted to. Getting to and from the gym was more effort than I was willing to do and my old US style of just going outdoors to workout (run, bike, swim) wasn't going to work on the streets of HK.

Because I know "how" to work out, and from years of training, my body is fine with even extreme amounts of exercise. I hide my weight well because I tend to be more muscular but it's the loosing of fat weight that I struggle with. What I ended up doing was hiring a nutritionist, rather than a PT. I found that she could advise me on good foods to buy when I eat out, and good ones to cook when I'm at home. She also helped me track, not just my weight, but also body fat, etc. and helped me decide wether to focus on the upper middle or lower body, depending on where the most/least progress was being made. Not only that, but because she had me keep a food journal, it made me more aware of what I ate, and when. And she held me accountable while not being overly restrictive about it, which for me was a big deal because my husband and I enjoy good food (it's one of our few common interests).

Now, because she was Asian, she was shocked that I was as heavy as I was and sometimes her goals for me seemed rather unrealistic (she mentioned getting me below 55kg at one point!), but we came to an understanding that I was looking for healthiness, not twiggy-ness. I worked with her really hard last winter and spring to loose 10kg, then when I finally got down to an acceptable (for me >70kg) weight, I got pregnant.

Now I'm beginning to freak out, as I'm finishing up my first trimester, and literally feeling the weight creep back along with the normal baby gain. But I'm sure that as soon as I'm able, I'm going to get back on track with her and do it all over again.

If any of you'd like the information for my nutritionist, as I'd highly recommend her (she has one office in Central near LKF and one somewhere else) feel free to PM me.

Also, maybe you ladies would like to get an exercise group together? I find that company always is good motivation, even if it's just for a walk. Not only that, but also someone else will be waiting for you, so more motivation to actually get out there! :treadmill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top